The Top 100 “X” Alternatives, Vol. 13: As Musk Kills Headlines on “X”—Ensuring That Millions of Users Will Be Subjected to Daily Disinformation—Here Are Your Very Best Escape Routes

This ongoing Retro series offers a journalistic assessment of how new, emerging, and rediscovered social media platforms are faring in the wake of the gradual collapse of Elon Musk’s Twitter.

Oct 08, 2023

Elon Musk jumps into transgender debate, says prison for parent, doctor who 'sterilizes' a child | Fox Business

Introduction

This ranking is an outgrowth of my work as a curatorial journalist. In the midst of what experts are variously calling the Twitter Migration or the Digital Diaspora, I’ve taken up the task of curating, analyzing, and synthesizing an exceedingly large number of reliable major-media reports on the new, emerging, and re-emerging contenders to Twitter’s current role in the digital landscape. By considering what experts are saying and what the data tell us, this ranking intends to assess how each of the sites listed below is faring in its bid to become a (or even the) leading post-Twitter alternative.

One thing that many who read this ranking may not be aware of is that there are some long-existing social media platforms that are now in the mix for a big comeback. With that in mind, this ranking not only includes new platforms, platforms that are on temporary hiatus, and future platforms that haven’t even launched their beta version yet, but also existing platforms that in theory could become a Twitter alternative but (as you’ll see below) have some stiff competition for that status.

So don’t be surprised if you see some very well known digital platforms ranked low in this particular ranking. It doesn’t mean those platforms aren’t large and/or healthy still, simply that they’re less likely to be where Twitter refugees end up as the mass exodus from Twitter continues.

As most Retro readers know, I now have accounts on Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Tribel Social, Spoutible, Goodreads, Reddit, Substack, Discord, Medium, Post News, LinkedIn, YouTube, and CounterSocial. I had a Mastodon account until recently. Yet for all that, this is not a ranking of my personal preferences. Rather, it is a ranking of how these sites are performing in the contest to get the bulk of Twitter’s run-off when a site with 450 million users finally drops into the digital sea.

I expect to continue updating this ranking as time goes on, as the question of where Twitter users will go post-Twitter is one of the most intriguing—and game-changing—dynamics in this uniquely volatile stage of the digital age.

{Note: Past editions of The Top 100 Twitter Alternatives can be found at these links: I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII.}

How to Use This Ranking

There has been an assumption that what comes after Twitter will look a lot like Twitter. In reality, that’s unlikely—not just because of how much many social media users have come to dislike the Twitter experience, but because innovation in social media platforms appears to be gravitating toward the creation of a specialized user experience (UX). Often this means building a platform that appeals particularly to those in a certain demographic, those in a certain geographic location, or those who are looking to use a social media platform in a specific way or for a specific purpose.

By appending brief notes to most of the social media platforms listed below that highlight their UX orientation(s), it allows those thinking of departing Twitter—or simply those looking for a new social media platform to use, for any reason or no reason at all—to shop for a new digital home (or new digital homes) on the basis of what it is that they specifically are looking to get out of a social media experience.

A Note on Macro-Blogging Platforms, Dating Apps, and Image-, Audio-, and Video-Based Platforms

Substack, Medium, and other conventional blogging platforms are eligible for the list below even though there’s some reason to question whether platforms of this sort are actually in the particular race this ranking is measuring. Why? Because while they are not, properly speaking, social media platforms, they are blogging platforms that have sufficient social media-like features to warrant inclusion here—not least because they appear likely to add even more social media-like components as the competition for the run-off from Twitter heats up. Indeed, with the creation of Substack Notes, there are many—e.g., Elon Musk—who now view Substack as a direct Twitter competitor, which is probably why Musk took the extraordinary, simultaneously anti-competition and anti-free speech step of throttling, de-boosting, and digitally kettling all Substack links and their authors on Twitter.

So I have ranked these and similar platforms in the spot(s) we would expect them to be ranked in if either (a) Twitter refugees begin to question en masse what “social media” is (or should be) in addition to where they wish to practice it—an especially relevant concern now that Twitter is dramatically increasing its character limit to make itself more like a conventional blogging site—and/or (b) these few platforms, as noted above seems likely to be the case, continue adding substantial social media-like components.

{Note: This ranking doesn’t include apps whose focus is on dating, such as Tinder, Tagged, Bumble, OKCupid, eHarmony, Grindr, Raya, Badoo, ChristianMingle, or EliteSingles.}

By the same token, platforms that place a particular emphasis on audio, video, and/or images rather than simply text—TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest being just a few examples—are listed here due to the possibility that Gen Z and Millennials may decide that text-based social media platforms are dead post-Twitter and that (in the post-Twitter digital sphere) nothing actually should replace a platform like Twitter.

Key

🟢 = A platform that has risen in the rankings since the last edition.
🔴 = A platform that has dropped in the rankings since the last edition.
🟡 = A platform that is new to the ranking since the last edition.

The Top 100 Twitter Alternatives

(as assessed by experts, data, and reportage, with links to each platform and a notation if the platform is oriented toward a particular demographic, purpose, or mode of communication; note the revision of Truth Social’s rank after breaking news of a possible imminent liquidation)

🔰 #1 | Threads (^) Meta Twitter clone
🔰 #2 | Instagram (^) images / videos 🟢
🔰 #3 | TikTok (^) videos
🔰 #4 | Discord (^) topic-oriented 🟢
🔰 #5 | YouTube (^) videos 🟢
🔰 #6 | Snapchat (^) transient messaging 🟢
🔰 #7 | Reddit (^) discussion boards 🟢
🔰 #8 | Substack Notes (^) macro-blogging 🔴
🔰 #9 | Spoutible (^) anti-Twitter Twitter 🔴
🔰 #10 | WhatsApp (^) transient messaging 🔴
🔰 #11 | Telegram (^) encrypted messaging 🟢
🔰 #12 | Pinterest (^) images
🔰 #13 | Bluesky (^) decentralized 🔴
🔰 #14 | Mastodon (^) decentralized 🔴
🔰 #15 | Post News (^) journalists 🔴
🔰 #16 | Quora (^) Q&As 🟢
🔰 #17 | Twitch (^) streaming 🟢
🔰 #18 | Patreon (^) content creators 🔴
🔰 #19 | Rumble (^) far-right extremist videos 🔴
🔰 #20 | Tumblr (^) 🔴
🔰 #21 | OnlyFans (^) adult content 🟢
🔰 #22 | LinkedIn (^) professional networking 🔴
🔰 #23 | CoHost (^) 🔴
🔰 #24 | Triller (^) videos 🔴
🔰 #25 | Clubhouse (^) audio
🔰 #26 | T2 (^) in beta
🔰 #27 | Meetup (^) group events 🟢
🔰 #28 | Artifact (^) AI-curated news feed
🔰 #29 | Tribel Social (^)
🔰 #30 | CounterSocial (^)
🔰 #31 | Medium (^) macro-blogging
🔰 #32 | Nextdoor (^) local community
🔰 #33 | Crunchyroll (^) anime
🔰 #34 | Supernova (^) activists
🔰 #35 | Hive Social (^)
🔰 #36 | Lemon8 (^) photo-sharing
🔰 #37 | Facebook (^)
🔰 #38 | Goodreads (^) readers
🔰 #39 | Clash (^) looping videos
🔰 #40 | Quest (^) social media analytics
🔰 #41 | Fark (^) discussion boards
🔰 #42 | Vimeo (^) videos
🔰 #43 | DeviantArt (^) art
🔰 #44 | MadeWithFriends (^) inverted posts
🔰 #45 | Pearpop (^) influencers
🔰 #46 | WT.Social (^)
🔰 #47 | Gobo (^) in beta / social media meta-app
🔰 #48 | BeReal (^) images 🔴
🔰 #49 | Bondee (^) teen / mini-metaverse
🔰 #50 | Yubo (^)
🔰 #51 | Microsoft Teams (^) collaborations
🔰 #52 | Polywork (^) collaborations
🔰 #53 | Peanut (^) women
🔰 #54 | Amino (^) topic-oriented
🔰 #55 | Greenroom (^) music
🔰 #56 | Caffeine (^) streaming
🔰 #57 | Truth Social (^) far-right extremists 🔴
🔰 #58 | Plurk (^) micro-blogging
🔰 #59 | Ello (^) art
🔰 #60 | Gab (^) far-right extremists 🔴
🔰 #61 | Blind (^) professional networking
🔰 #62 | Elpha (^) women
🔰 #63 | Pixelfed (^) visual media / decentralized
🔰 #64 | Peach (^) micro-blogging
🔰 #65 | Wattpad (^) authors
🔰 #66 | Valence (^) Black social media users
🔰 #67 | Sunroom (^) adult content / LGBTQIA+
🔰 #68 | uSync (^) a la carte subscription Twitter
🔰 #69 | True (^) selective-access threading
🔰 #70 | HalloApp (^) friend groups
🔰 #71 | Diem (^) women / non-binary users
🔰 #72 | Narwhal (^) in beta
🔰 #73 | Koo (^) Asia predominantly
🔰 #74 | Funkwhale (^) music
🔰 #75 | Applaudable (^) positivity / affirmation
🔰 #76 | Mobilizon (^) activists / decentralized
🔰 #77 | WriteFreely (^) writers
🔰 #78 | GETTR (^) far-right extremists 🔴
🔰 #79 | ClassMates (^) classmates
🔰 #80 | Flickr (^) images
🔰 #81 | Giist (^) beta / powerful post-searching
🔰 #82 | Diaspora (^) decentralized
🔰 #83 | Aether (^) decentralized
🔰 #84 | Steemit (^) blockchain / decentralized
🔰 #85 | Friendica (^) decentralized
🔰 #86 | Locket (^) family members
🔰 #87 | 8tracks (^) music
🔰 #88 | Mix (^) digital aggregation
🔰 #89 | DTube (^) videos / crypto-oriented
🔰 #90 | Peepeth (^) blockchain / positivity
🔰 #91 | Micro.blog (^) writers
🔰 #92 | Bookwyrm (^) readers
🔰 #93 | WeHeartIt (^) images / art / positivity
🔰 #94 | LiveJournal (^) macro-blogging
🔰 #95 | WeAre8 (^) transformative / video
🔰 #96 | SlideShare (^) infographics
🔰 #97 | SoundCloud (^) musicians
🔰 #98 | Hood (^) pseudonymous social media
🔰 #99 | PeerTube (^) videos
🔰 #100 | Hey.Café (^) user funded / discussions

Just Missed the Cut: Other Social Media Networks

🔰 #101 | CaringBridge (^) medical issues
🔰 #102 | Untappd (^) beer drinkers
🔰 #103 | Minds (^) decentralized
🔰 #104 | GNU Social (^) decentralized
🔰 #105 | Pleroma (^) decentralized
🔰 #106 | LUIVE (^) content creators / ad-free
🔰 #107 | MeWe (^) promises no ads/data-mining
🔰 #108 | Mirror (^) crowdfunding
🔰 #109 | ASmallWorld (^) travelers / has fees
🔰 #110 | 23snaps (^) parents
🔰 #111 | Splash Social (^)
🔰 #112 | Likee (^) videos / Asia predominantly
🔰 #113 | Raftr (^) team leaders and members
🔰 #114 | Band (^) team leaders and members
🔰 #115 | Status (^) crypto / encrypted messaging
🔰 #116 | Stage 32 (^) multimedia creatives
🔰 #117 | beBee (^) professional networking
🔰 #118 | Anobii (^) readers
🔰 #119 | Damus (^) decentralized / in beta
🔰 #120 | Only1 (^) NFT creators and investors
🔰 #121 | Lens (^) decentralized / social graphing
🔰 #122 | Amikumu (^) new-language learners
🔰 #123 | Athlinks (^) athletes / recordkeeping
🔰 #124 | Academia (^) academics
🔰 #125 | Parler (^) far-right extremists*
🔰 #126 | Moco (^) chat rooms
🔰 #127 | Open Diary (^) public journalling
🔰 #128 | Gaia (^) anime
🔰 #129 | Public (^) social investing
🔰 #130 | eToro (^) social investing

*This site is temporarily shut down, though according to reports the shutdown could eventually become permanent.

Unranked Social Media Networks

(listed alphabetically; see notes following this section for an explanation of eligibility criteria)

Notes: Nitter isn’t a social media platform per se; rather, it’s a different way of reading Twitter—one that removes certain functions of Twitter (including tracking) that many Twitter users dislike. Spore is powered by Mastodon, and therefore isn’t assessed here as a discrete social media network. Due to ongoing events inside Ukraine, Retro isn’t recommending Russia-based social media platforms (for instance, VK) at this time.

Non-English-language social media platforms aren’t ranked by Retro, as their virtues can’t be properly assessed here.